William Carter was a bit dazed. When the light turned green, he slowly walked across, glancing up at the tree branches from time to time.

When William Carter got closer, the girl's gaze locked onto him. She suppressed the delight in her eyes, frowned first, then said, "Weren't you pretending not to see me? Why aren't you pretending today?"

William Carter looked up at her. "How come... you've turned into a girl?"

Whoosh!

The girl jumped down again, moving nimbly.

A flash of lightning lit up, making her face appear pale as snow.

"Why did you want to find me today?"

"To talk to you."

"Aren't you afraid I'll eat you?" She was convinced that William Carter had been scared of being eaten by her the day before yesterday.

"I'm not afraid."

"Hmph!"

The girl snorted lightly, but then immediately broke into a smile. "Let's talk somewhere else, people are all staring at you."

William Carter remained calm. "Let them look."

"People will think you're crazy."

"I'm used to it."

The girl didn't respond, took two steps forward, then turned to glance back at him. Only when she saw him following did she continue ahead.

At the same time, she slowed her pace.

From behind, William Carter looked at the girl's neck. Now that he was this close, he finally noticed the difference between her and humans—

Her skin was flawless!

Her complexion was quite fair, but not unnaturally so.

But it was so delicate!

No visible pores, no fuzz, and under the shop lights by the street, it reflected a crystal-like sheen.

She must have some kind of transformation ability, right? If so, that would explain it—yesterday she looked completely different, and William Carter had never seen any of 'them' who looked so much like a human.

Thinking of this, he gave the girl another careful look.

Loose linen pants outlined her figure—maybe there was a tail shorter than a rabbit's hidden inside?

William Carter shook his head.

Soon, the two of them reached the edge of an alley where there were fewer people. Not that much fewer—there just weren't any streetlights or shops, so it was a bit dimmer.

The girl didn't go deep into the alley, just walked a few meters in and leaned against the wall.

"This is fine, let's not go further in, so you won't worry I'll try to eat you again."

"......"

William Carter couldn't be bothered to explain to her.

The alley was a bit dark, with a red "Taoyuan Internet Cafe" sign glowing in the center. Other than that, most of the light came from the windows of the buildings on either side. A few stray cats were sitting by the trash heap having a meeting, and a few stylish young guys with dyed hair were squatting at the internet cafe entrance smoking. Both the stray cats and the guys would glance over from time to time, their movements uncannily similar.

It seemed like it had started to drizzle.

William Carter looked at the girl and hesitated before asking, "Did you always look like this?"

"No."

"Like you did yesterday?"

"Not that either." The girl added, "Don't be fooled by my appearance."

"Then are you... a boy or a girl?"

"For us, this is just a shell!" the girl said. "I can become whatever I want."

"So willful."

"What's your name?"

"William Carter, and you?"

"My name is... Ethan Miller." The girl thought for a moment. "Does this mean we know each other now? Look, we've exchanged names."

"I guess so. Can you change back to how you looked yesterday? I'm just... not used to this." The other party was too pretty, which put a lot of pressure on the newly adult William Carter.

"Why? Don't I look good?" Ethan Miller looked herself over. "Or do you think yesterday's look was better?"

"I'm used to yesterday's."

"Hmm... so you like boys, huh? Then I'll have to wait until day and night switch to change."

"At dusk and dawn?"

"That's right."

At this moment, the group of young guys squatting at the internet cafe entrance stood up, but instead of going upstairs into the cafe, they headed their way.

Ethan Miller glanced over and fell silent.

The group walked past William Carter, eyeing his school uniform. "It's raining, why aren't you going home!"

William Carter didn't answer.

After they left the alley, William Carter said, "It's going to rain. Aren't you going home?"

"I'm not afraid of getting wet."

"I'm afraid."

"I don't have a home."

"No home?"

"Yeah." Ethan Miller looked thoughtful. "Maybe I do, I used to, but I don't remember."

"Don't remember?" William Carter was filled with questions—not just about Ethan Miller these past few days, but also ones he'd accumulated over the past decade or so. "Did something happen to you?"

"I don't know. When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything."

"Woke up..."

That word made William Carter pause, and an image flashed through his mind of them crawling out of the earth, crooked tombstones nearby, and then a sunflower destroyed that terrifying scene.

"Actually, I have a lot of questions I want to ask you."

"Go ahead and ask!" Ethan Miller's eyes lit up. "I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Okay."